Tonight's Cornelius city council meeting will pick up where Mayor Neal Knight left off in his inaugural meeting Jan. 3. At that standing-room-only meeting, Knight promised residents that he planned to make changes in the city. He had intended to fire City Manager Dave Waffle then but ultimately postponed the decision, saying he wanted to make sure the city covered its legal bases.

Knight told the Oregonian last Tuesday that he no longer planned to fire Waffle. The mayor and city manager had met and had a long conversation, Knight said, and he believed he could get more accomplished in the city with Waffle's help.

But Knight changed course in the last week, and Waffle's contract is again up for a vote. Tonight's council agenda also includes an item appointing an interim city manager.

The council also will consider tonight an allegation made by resident Dave Schamp that Knight has violated the city's charter by directing the city manager to help him remove the general services fee.

Schamp referred to this section of the charter: "Neither the mayor nor a councilor may attempt directly or indirectly to coerce the manager or a candidate for the office of manager in the appointment or removal of any city employee, or in administrative decisions."

Schamp's letter quotes from a Jan. 6 Oregonian article about the tension between Knight and Waffle. The article said that Knight said he would consider keeping Waffle on staff if Waffle agreed to help him remove the general service fee, which Knight calls the water tax.

Schamp wrote, "Mayor Knight owns several properties in Cornelius and eliminating the fee would have a direct financial benefit to him. Based on public statements ... it is apparent that Mayor Knight wants the general service fee eliminated and believes Mr. Waffle is an impediment to that happening."

The agenda says the council has four options: Not act on the complaint, schedule apublic hearing, ask the city attorney for his opinion about whether Knight has violated the chater or ask the city manager to hire a third party to investigate the complaint.

Even if an investigation shows that Knight did violate the charter, all four councilors would have to agree to remove him from the board, according to the city charter.

Finally, the agenda includes a discussion of the general service fee itself. The fee is a flat rate fee that costs residences $8 a month and commercial, industrial or institutional utility customers $24 per unit (think faucets, toilets, etc.) per month. The city said the fee should generate about $486,000 -- or 9 percent of Cornelius's budget -- this fiscal year.

If the council votes to eliminate it entirely, that would take the $486,000 out of the city's budget. The city could eliminate four or five of its 25 staff positions to cut the budget by an equal amount.

The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Cornelius Council Chambers, 1310 North Adair. The council's last meeting was packed by about 6:30 p.m., so you might want to arrive early if you want a seat.